


agenda

by atimi (bertee)



Series: CWRPF: horas non numero [11]
Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Ancient Rome, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, M/M, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-10
Updated: 2010-01-10
Packaged: 2017-11-11 10:12:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/477426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bertee/pseuds/atimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Jensen's freedom on the horizon, Jeff takes it upon himself to find out a little more about him. (Set during <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/477411">tempus edax rerum</a>.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	agenda

"Be nice."

Smirking at the warning tone in Sam's voice, Jeff set the bowl of soup on the table and leaned in to kiss her. "I'm always nice."

"I mean it, Jeff," she chided, smiling from the kiss but making an attempt to look at him sternly. "That boy's been through a lot in the last few days and I don't want you terrorizing him while he's trying to recover."

"I'm not going to terrorize him," Jeff protested, picking up the soup again and holding it up in demonstration. "See? I'm bringing him food. I'll just talk to him while I'm in there."

"Hmm," Sam said with a skeptical raise of her eyebrows. "And this is going to be casual, friendly talking, is it? Not you interrogating him to find out what's going on between him and Jared?"

Jeff grinned and lied through his teeth, "No interrogating at all."

"You're a bad liar, Jeffrey Dean." She rolled her eyes and tucked a chunk of bread into Jeff's hand before patting him on the shoulder to nudge him out of the kitchen. " _Try_ to be nice to him, okay? For Jared?"

It was a low blow to use Jared but it sobered Jeff up enough to nod and promise, "I'll be careful."

With a final kiss to Sam's cheek, he balanced the bowl of soup in one hand and some bread and cloth in the other as he wound his way through the house to Jared's bedroom. His hands were too full for him to knock but he was a little pleased when his unannounced appearance came as a surprise.

Jensen jerked awake when the door clattered against a wooden chest and Jeff saw him wince in pain as his injured back brushed the blankets. His face was pale, his eyes wide and bruised from lack of sleep, and Jeff could count the moments before recognition set in and Jensen remembered where he was and what Jeff was doing there.

He stayed quiet and let Jensen break the silence with the stammered greeting, "Hey. What- Do you need me to do something?"

Jeff shook his head and spoke with false nonchalance, "Jared would bitch at me for hours if I let you get up to do anything yet."

The statement masked his own opinion on the subject (even if his views did match up with Jared's) and it was clear from the way Jensen dropped his eyes that Jeff's answer had had the desired effect.

However, his cautious attitude towards the slave now sleeping in his master's bed didn't stop him feeling guilty when Jensen flinched as he moved closer to hand him his lunch. 

"Thank you," Jensen murmured but Jeff was more interested in the way his hands trembled when he reached out to take the food. It had only been three days since they'd found him in Leto's house, beaten and bleeding, and while they'd provided as many remedies as they could, Jeff guessed he was still in enough pain to keep him awake at night.

He felt like Jensen half-expected him to leave after the lunch delivery but he didn't make any protest when Jeff sank to a seat on the bed, clearly not done with him yet.

"Where's Jared?" he asked quietly.

"Senate House," Jeff replied. "There was some meeting about eliminating Farrell's army - Jared went in a while ago."

Jensen nodded, shoulders hunched up in nervous defence, and Jeff decided to capitalize on the subject with the careful question, "So you care about Jared? You worry about where he is?" He smiled, deceptively open. "Or is it that you don't want to be left alone with me?"

"No," Jensen said quickly. "I- I care about him," he added with more confidence. "I just want him to be safe."

"Is that why you did this? To keep Jared safe?" He smirked. "I guess you getting your freedom out of it is just a convenient side-effect." Watching Jensen's eyes flicker to the sheets and his shoulders lift in a shrug, he promised, "Oh, you'll get it. If Jared says he'll do something, he'll do it. I'm just trying to work out what your endgame is in all this."

"I don't have an endgame," Jensen countered weakly. "I just- I didn't want him to be hurt. I didn't expect any of this."

"Really? Come on, kid, you're not the only slave here. I know how important it is to have a good master. You sure you weren't in this to get Jared to buy you?" Jensen opened his mouth but Jeff pressed on, "I mean, it's not like you haven't laid the groundwork already. Jared's been in love with you for years; he'd do anything to help you out."

"And I'd do anything for him," Jensen promised, almost pleading. "This isn't part of some master plan, Sir. I swear, I've never asked him for anything."

"You haven't dropped hints?" Jeff asked knowingly. "You've been with him, what, ten years now?"

Jensen nodded timidly. "Yes, Sir."

"Jared kept me up-to-date for most of that time," Jeff continued. "I know you had a lot of bad luck with who owned you and I feel for you, I really do, but I'm not going to let you take advantage of Jared just because he's been kind to you. He's a good kid and I don't want to see him get hurt."

"I'm not taking advantage of him," he pleaded and Jeff was quietly relieved to see that there was more desperation in his eyes than guilt or lies. "He doesn't need to free me if he doesn't want to, I told him that. I'll stay with him as a slave if that's what he wants. Please, Sir," he begged, "please don't tell him to sell me on. I'm a hard worker and I don't need much food; you can use me in the kitchen or as a manservant or for housework, and I'm trained as a bed-slave if you want to-"

"Whoa, hold on there, kid," Jeff cut in, guilt now rearing up in full force. His suspicions about Jensen having ulterior motives beyond being with Jared quickly dissipated in the face of his desperate offers of servitude and sex in return for mercy and he reminded him gently, "You know I'm not your master, right? I work for Jared. You don't need to call me 'Sir'."

Jensen smiled colorlessly. "I know how households are run, _Sir_. All slave dormitories have their hierarchies."

Jeff didn't have an answer to that - his experience didn't extend beyond the Padalecki household - but with his updated opinion of Jensen and his motivations, he figured it was time to sacrifice some of his superiority and asked honestly, "They do?" Jensen frowned and Jeff admitted, "I don't know much about that."

Eyeing him with concern, Jensen hesitated for a long moment before speaking, clearly scared of breaching the aforementioned hierarchy. "Most households have senior slaves. They have more experience and more authority, especially over the newer or younger purchases." Jeff said nothing and he continued uncertainly, "From what I've seen, Sir, the cooks, personal slaves, and overseers are at the top and entertainers, children, and bed-slaves are at the bottom."

"What does that mean?" Jeff inquired, genuinely curious. "Did that affect your duties?"

"No, Sir." Jensen seemed to be relaxing the more he talked but there was still something awkward in his body language (beyond the physical discomfort) as he murmured, "We just came last in most things. The last servings of food, the last choice of beds, that kind of thing."

"And you'd have to address the others like they were free men? You'd call them 'Sir'?"

"They were my betters, Sir," Jensen answered, adding the term of address reflexively. "I needed to be respectful."

"Or what?"

The look Jensen gave him was far more cynical than he'd been expecting but it didn't take much to work out what it meant. 

The subsequent perception shift was obvious in hindsight - so much of Jensen's nervousness could be explained by years of bullying on top of whatever abuse he'd suffered at the hands of his masters - but Jeff still felt vaguely nauseated by his new, broadened view of what slaves like Jensen had lived with. He knew about the problems with citizens and freedmen, and Jensen's history with his masters in particular, but from his own relationship with Sam and his time growing up in the Padalecki household, he had thought there would be less conflict among slaves.

He guessed Jensen had picked up on his silence since he spoke up with the question, "Have you worked for other masters before, Sir?"

With his altered outlook on Jensen's history, the formal term of address sat even more uneasily with him and he corrected firmly, "Jeff. Call me Jeff, ki- Jensen."

Jensen nodded submissively. "Yes, Jeff."

Jeff knew it was a sign of his training rather than of his comfort level when he made the change flawlessly but he moved on to answer Jensen's question rather than dwelling on the issue. "No, I haven't worked anywhere else."

Nibbling on the chunk of bread, Jensen asked, "Were you born a slave?"

"Were you?" 

Jensen nodded. "Douglas household."

Jeff made a noise of understanding. Jared hadn't mentioned that part of his life but even more things started to make sense now. 

Making an effort to be friendly to Jensen in light of his earlier hostility, he propped his legs up on the bed and gave a better answer to the initial question, "I was born near Corinth in Greece. I was free." He smiled dryly, feeling Jensen's eyes on him as he picked at his bread and soup. "When I was about eighteen, I was part of the most pathetic uprising ever. My town thought we could overthrow the Romans in our province, then our country, then the whole fuckin' Empire." He caught Jensen's smirk and chuckled. "Hey, I was young. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

He sighed, rotating one shoulder to get rid of the stiffness there. "No surprise that we lost. The army did their thing and managed to capture most of us without too much bloodshed, and then we were shipped across to the slave markets in Rome." His stomach tightened and old feelings came spilling out more readily than Jeff would have liked. "I was angry when I got here, y'know? We'd been defeated, enslaved, the rest of our lives taken away from us, and I was sure that I was just going to kill whoever bought me. I wanted to go out fighting."

Jensen sat up in the bed, stirring his soup absently as he inquired, "What changed?"

"I was bought by Jared's father," Jeff replied. "I don't know if Jared ever told you about him but he's a big guy. Bigger than Jared, and definitely big enough to scare the shit out of me when I was that age. I thought he was buying me for some godawful job and when he took me back to the house, I was ready to make my move and catch him off-guard while I had the chance."

"What happened?"

Shaking his head, Jeff smiled in disbelief. "Jared happened." Jensen frowned and he elaborated, "That was what his father had bought me for. His mother was sick and even though he had Sam as a wet nurse, they needed someone to look after him as he grew up. 

"They showed me around the house, told me where I was sleeping, and then took me in to meet Jared. I was still so sure I hated them all and that I'd fight 'til the end, but then..." He grinned, lost in the memory. "I walk into the atrium and this tiny little kid comes barreling across the floor towards me. He must've been, what, two or three? He already had his mop of scruffy hair and a little tunic which was covered in food and this huge, happy smile on his face the whole time."

He chuckled, running a hand through his hair. "Of course, this was Jared so he had the crappiest sense of self-preservation ever. I was some stranger dropped in his house to look after him and the kid came and clung to me with these chubby little hands like I was the best thing he'd ever seen."

Jensen smiled at that, still glancing tentatively at Jeff for approval, and in spite of the bruises and dark circles under his eyes, Jeff started to see what had attracted Jared to him initially. 

"So you stayed with the family?" Jensen asked. "Jared won you over?"

"Guess so. Turns out I have a soft spot for chubby toddlers who like to clamber all over me." Jensen swallowed a spoonful of soup and Jeff continued his narration, "Once they figured out that I could take care of him, they gave me more of a role in the household. I got an education so I could tutor Jared when he was old enough and then when he grew up, they started giving me more responsibility and a chance to earn some good money."

Jensen raised his eyebrows, amazed. "You have money?"

"Yep. Even if Jared didn't have an open offer of manumission, we've got enough between us to buy our freedom."

Jensen's eyes went wide; evidently this wasn't common practice in the households he'd lived in. "Why aren't you free?" he asked in disbelief. "Why wouldn't you want that?"

"We've had a good life," Jeff explained. "I know it's hard for you to understand after what's happened to you but me and Sam are happy here. We don't have any children or any responsibilities outside of Jared and this house and as long as we're together, we don't need to be freed to feel secure."

Jensen's voice was barely above a whisper and Jeff thought it was the first time Jensen had spoken to him like an equal as he murmured, "You're lucky."

"And I know it," Jeff admitted. "Hell, if I'd had your run of masters, there's no way I'd be so relaxed about this."

"They weren't all bad," Jensen countered half-heartedly. "A lot of people had it worse; at least I had Jared with me sometimes."

" _Sometimes_ being the operative word," Jeff pointed out wryly. "You know he asked me to keep an eye on you while he was away in the war?"

From the look of surprise on Jensen's face, he guessed he hadn't known.

"Yeah," he reiterated, aiming to come across as friendly and non-intimidating. "I couldn't do much but he wanted me to keep track of who owned you and whether they were treating you okay."

"Jared said you told him about Master Purefoy," Jensen admitted, "but I didn't know you'd told him more than that." His hand tightened in the sheets and Jeff caught the nervous tremor in his voice as he stammered, "How- What did you tell him?"

"Just the gist of it. I told him that Bana had run off to the provinces and abandoned his slaves to Crowe, and then that Crowe had been executed and the survivors bought by Purefoy. Jared already knew what Bana was like as an owner and from what I'd heard, Purefoy was a decent master."

Jensen paled further and Jeff knew what he would ask before the question made it out of his mouth. "What about Master Crowe?"

"It sounds like you said more about Crowe than I did," Jeff pointed out calmly. "You were the one who told Jared about him not giving you enough food or sleep, and even though he came home after Purefoy had bought you, you had enough bruises to prove how Crowe's freedmen issued their orders."

He almost felt guilty at the relief on Jensen's face and said nothing when Jensen swiped a hand across his cheek and turned his attention back to picking his bread apart. "Why didn't you come say something if you were watching me?"

"I wasn't watching you," he corrected. "I mean, I was trying to but it's hard to keep track of a slave, especially when I barely knew who you were. I saw you a couple of times in the forum when you were serving Bana but it wasn't exactly easy to get you on your own to talk."

Jensen nodded shortly, worrying his lower lip between his teeth, and Jeff started to wish he'd made the effort to introduce himself years earlier if Jensen had been this desperate to have some kind of support while Jared was away. Apparently he was feeling masochistic and he confessed before he could stop himself, "I saw you with Crowe's men in the forum once too."

Jensen's head snapped up in shock and the hot soup sloshed over the side of the bowl onto his hand.

"Shit," Jeff cursed, stretching to wipe the soup off Jensen's hand and the blanket before easing the bowl out of his hands and onto the side table. 

"Sorry," Jensen apologized hurriedly, reaching out for the cloth. "I'll clean it up, Sir. I'm sorry."

He hated the cringing tone in Jensen's voice and corrected sharply, "It's Jeff."

"Yes, Jeff," he mumbled but gave no sign of letting up on his attempts to clean up the soup, despite the amount of pain Jeff knew he had to have been in. 

He only stopped when Jeff's hand clamped around his wrist. Seeing him flinch, he spoke firmly but soothingly, "It's okay, kid. I'll finish up; just take it easy."

"I'm sorry," Jensen whispered again but otherwise stayed obediently silent as Jeff cleared up the rest of it and sank to the bed beside him.

Deciding to take a gentler tack, he asked, "I'm guessing you want to know what I saw with Crowe's men?"

It had been a while since Jeff had seen anyone look as nervous as Jensen did when he nodded nonetheless.

"There were two of them," he began, watching Jensen's reaction as he spoke. "I don't know their names but they were big guys, Spanish-looking." Jensen tensed up further and Jeff stayed as reassuring as he could. "They didn't do much while I was watching. I saw them drag you down a sidestreet somewhere, spit at you, push you around, the usual bullying tactics." He shook his head. "But then I got close enough to hear what they were saying to you."

Jensen's breathing hitched but his head stayed down, cheeks red in tearful humiliation. "Jeff, I-"

"It's okay," he assured. "No-one's blaming you for anything; I know none of it was your fault."

"Please don't tell Jared," Jensen begged. "Please, Jeff. He already knows I shared a bed with my masters - I can't tell him I slept with Master Crowe's men too."

"You really think Jared's going to hold that against you?" he asked in disbelief. "He's a good guy, Jensen; I can't see him changing his whole opinion of you because of something they did."

"He hated me sleeping with Butler," Jensen pointed out, hands shaking as he wiped his eyes. "He called me a whore; he said he had a problem with anyone else fucking me. He knows Master Crowe's freedmen were _hands-on_ but I couldn't tell him the rest. Please don't tell him, Jeff."

"You were raped, kid," Jeff blurted out, knowing he'd spoken louder than he'd intended to from the way Jensen flinched at the word. "That wasn't your fault."

"It wasn't-"

"Don't give me that 'you can't rape a slave' bullshit," he snapped back, surprised by his own anger at the excuse. "I heard the things Crowe's guys said - there was no way you were willing."

"Master Crowe gave his permission," Jensen returned stiffly. "That's all the consent they needed."

"Fuck, Jensen-"

"No," he countered, smearing away the rest of his tears and looking as determined as Jeff had ever seen him. "I know it was necessary - the only reason they let me live when they took over Master Bana's household was because they wanted to fuck me - but if I had any say, no-one would know about it. I can't do anything to change that now but please, I'm begging you, don't tell Jared. He's been so good to me and I can't dump this on him now."

Both of them froze at the sound of a shout from outside the room and Jeff recognized Jared's voice as he called, "Hello? Jeff? Sam? You here?"

"In here," Jeff called back, listening to the sound of Jared's sandals on the tiles as he approached the bedroom.

Looking at Jensen, Jeff saw him wipe one final time at his cheeks and sit up straighter as he whispered again, "Please, Jeff..."

He fell quiet as soon as Jared walked through the door and Jeff caught the flicker in his eyes as the weakness from earlier was shuttered away behind a forced smile.

"Hey," Jared greeted with a broad grin, bypassing Jeff to kiss Jensen on the head. "Did you get any sleep this morning?"

"Some," Jensen offered and Jeff wondered if Jared knew how little 'some' actually meant in this case. "How was the meeting? Did they take care of Farrell's army?"

"Yep," Jared declared happily. "The rebellion's finished and the Senate's getting back to business as usual."

Jensen's smile looked more genuine at that and he leaned up to kiss him again, still behaving in a more reserved manner at Jeff's presence.

Jared seemed to pick up on this too and looked between the two of them, slightly confused. "You guys okay?"

Ignoring Jensen's hopeful look, Jeff shot Jared an easy smile. "We're good. I was just bringing your boy here some lunch and telling him all your embarrassing stories."

Jared cringed and glanced at Jensen for support. "Please tell me he's making that up."

Jensen smiled, relaxed and thankful. "Apparently you were a very cute toddler."

"Hell yeah, I was cute. Still am," he preened, but Jeff sobered as he saw Jared's hand come up to rest on the back of Jensen's neck.

Taking that as his signal to leave, he pushed himself off the bed and reached to pick up the bowl and cloths to take back into the kitchen, speaking to both Jared and Jensen as he said, "If you want something to eat, Sam's got some leftovers you can snack on."

"I ate already," Jared assured.

Jensen shook his head too, saying quietly, "I'm just going to try to keep the bread down."

"You still throwing up?" Jared asked worriedly. "Do you want to change the medication you're on? I could ask Sam about giving you different herbs."

"I'm okay," he promised. "I'm feeling better; I won't need to stay medicated much longer."

Jared hmmed skeptically and dropped down onto the bed next to him, pushing his toga out of the way and folding his legs underneath him as he reached out to wipe the remnants of a tear-track of his cheek with the pad of his thumb, asking with compassion, "You sure you're okay?"

Jeff saw Jensen's gaze flicker in his direction but he hesitated in coming to his aid, torn between wanting to help Jensen out and wanting to tell Jared the truth so that he at least knew what he was dealing with when it came to Jensen's past. 

Fortunately for Jensen, sympathy won out.

"He's just been sneezing," Jeff chimed in, offering Jared a reassuring grin. "Hate to break it to you, Jared, but we don't all burst into tears whenever you leave the house."

"Ha ha," Jared retorted, sarcastic but relaxed, and laid a hand on Jensen's knee over the blankets. "I'm wounded, Jeff. _Wounded._ I'm just going to have to stay in here with someone who appreciates me."

Jeff wasn't sure that Jared realized just how much Jensen did appreciate him but opted not to raise the topic and instead backed towards the door, hands raised in surrender. "I'm gone. I've got some appreciating of my own to do in the kitchen."

Jared groaned and buried his face in Jensen's shoulder. "Stop making things sound dirty."

Jeff shrugged, heading out of the door and calling back with a grin, "It's a gift!"

He heard Jared laugh as he headed away from the bedroom and back to the kitchen, happy to give the two of them some more alone time. 

Sam was waiting for him when he came back in, leaning against the table as she snacked on apple slices from a bowl, and she asked before he could volunteer a report, "How's he doing? Did I hear Jared come back? Is he in with him?"

Rolling his eyes at her maternal approach, Jeff leaned in to kiss her lightly on the lips before dipping his head further to steal the apple slice from between her fingers with his teeth. He chomped loudly, chuckling at the playful cuff to the back of the head he received in return, but kissed her again when he was done. "Yeah, Jared's with him. They could be some time."

Sam's eyes were still full of concern even as she leaned in to his embrace. "Is Jensen okay?"

Thinking for a second about the right answer to that, Jeff nodded slowly and pulled her into his arms as he murmured, honest and hopeful, "He will be."


End file.
